We’re in the 21st century, and the vast majority of us still believe in an utterly and obviously fictional creator deity. Plenty of people, even in developed countries with decent educational systems, still believe in ghosts or magic (e.g. voodoo). And I–an atheist and a skeptic–am told I need to respect these patently false beliefs as cultural traditions.
Fuck that. They’re bad cultural traditions, undeserving of respect. Child-proofing society for these intellectually stunted people doesn’t help them; it is in fact a disservice to them to pretend it’s okay to go through life believing these things. We should demand that people contend with reality on a factual basis by the time they reach adulthood (even earlier, if I’m being completely honest). We shouldn’t be coddling people who profess beliefs that are demonstrably false, simply because their feelings might get hurt.
Ok, so I have a psychotic illness that comes with delusions. My personal spiritual practice has helped me move away from the delusions I had based around Christianity and the absolute fear I had. I also have delusions around philosophy which isn’t religious in nature. Gently correcting me away from the personal rituals I built to help me stay grounded would harm me. They were developed with a psychiatrist. Everyone’s life is different, everyone’s culture is different. I know facts are facts, and they help me know what’s real, but my brain literally has a hard time with this distinction, so this duality of a spiritual practice has helped me build a barrier with reality and the reality my brain wants to make. I don’t ask anyone else to participate or force anyone else to believe it. Why would you want to correct this?